The old aphorism that the definition of insanity is “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”
This is a perfect description of the Democrat Party.
This aphorism works perfectly to describe the Democratic National Committee and all the other elite Democrat groups that have been mistakenly entrusted to get Democrats elected in every state over the past decade.
This hasn’t happened, and the evidence is obvious because neoliberals cannot accommodate democratic socialists. The reason: the bedrock of liberalism is the protection of capital accumulation and capitalism. At best, when neoliberal Democrats take power, their central accommodation to the protection of capitalism is regulation, however tepid, and temporary. This is why liberals are anti-socialist, as socialists aim to alter the ownership of capital and the inequitable accumulation of wealth.
This is personified by the Democratic leaders who have run for national office over the past decades.
Reams of descriptions have been written about the perceived weak leadership of Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Bill Clinton, Corey Booker, Chuck Schumer, Hakeem Jeffries, and numerous other senators. The deficiencies of all these top Democrats are evident to average party regulars outside the Beltway. Still, those deficiencies in decision-making, the lack of forcefulness against the dangerous MAGA enemy, the
appointments of weak Cabinet members (such as Merrick Garland, the worst AG in history), and catering to corporate donors have all resulted in a directionless, listless political party.
As recently as Oct. 7, 2025, Senator Chris Coons (D-DE) was asked on MSNBC what the Democrats need to do to regain power. This was a throwaway question, but Coons’ listless response was that the Dems have to explain what they are all about, and how they will benefit the American people.
This pathetic response from a veteran Senator aptly describes how the Democrat leadership is totally lost. Ten months into Trump’s second term (can you believe that Americans elected this criminal twice?), the Dems are still searching for an identity, even as Trump sends in armed ICE thugs and the National Guard into Blue cities, as a precursor for something much more ominous. At best, the Democrats today are a center-right party when their base is left and populist. This is a fatal disconnect.
As if to emphasize their powerlessness, the Dems have staged a filibuster that achieved nothing, and now have finally responded by shutting down the government, as their only way to show they have some power.
Clearly, the Dems need something new to show they are a viable party. That’s why the top leadership of the DNC, along with its most visible leaders, must step aside to allow an open convention, enabling local candidates to gain national exposure for their respective local elections. If a candidate wants to run as a democratic socialist in their state and meets specific voter strength criteria, the DNC should endorse and financially support them.
There is no longer a need for a corporate Democrat, neoliberal purity test, since it may have won elections, while at the same time losing grassroots backing. Many state, local, and national Democrats in office hold positions, but do not receive respect from their constituents. That’s because they largely don’t stand for anything. They are placeholders for the minority whip, who are told how to vote and when. They do not lead on policy issues, even those that affect their districts. This is why many struggle with fundraising.
It’s time for the DNC and its top leadership to recognize that following the corporate Democrat neoliberal policy test is a losing proposition. If the DNC follows that pattern in the future, it will be too far right for the majority of Democrats, most of whom are trending younger and are being excluded from financial advancement.
The Democrats’ identity problems stem from their policy anchor in a neo-liberalism that favors privatization of functions provided by local and federal government, and converting them into profit-making entities that benefit corporations and their management and shareholders.
But the Democrats’ neoliberalism cannot reconcile with its loyal, liberal, average-American, working-class constituency. One study* found that 40% of Democrats are progressives, yet they are not represented in that proportion at the top levels of the DNC.
Instead, the top advisors, cabinet members, and major department heads reflect the neoliberal hold on the party and were chosen by the upper class of American society. For instance, in the Biden administration, 60%, or 30 members, in Biden’s list of appointees graduated or worked for one of the top 10 universities in the world. Another 63% of Biden’s team were closely associated with four of the major Washington D.C. think tanks (the Council on Foreign Relations, the Brookings Institution, and the Carnegie Endowment).* These think tanks develop policies related to monopoly capitalism and economic and foreign policy decisions.
Time for the Class Consciousness Discussion
With the Dems trying to serve two masters at once—being the paragon of neoliberalism, yet putting on the populist mask—it’s no wonder they have trouble formulating even the most basic message that appeals to average Americans, many of whom live paycheck to paycheck.
The Democratic elite should drop “identity politics” and become more class-conscious. They should stop pretending that class is not a factor in winning elections and that the U.S. has the largest wealth gap in its history. The MAGA Republicans know this. They are not ashamed to say they cater to the Top 1%. At the same time, they feed the underclass 
stories about shared prosperity, job protection, nationalism, forging a white society, and anything else their pollsters find to be attractive hooks.
Wealth Inequality in America
Remember that Donald Trump borrowed talking points from Democratic Socialist Bernie Sanders during the 2020 presidential campaign to attract younger voters with the economic benefits he promised to provide if he became president.
At the same time, Trump was borrowing Bernie Sanders’ talking points; his Democratic opponent’s campaign manager, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, considered Sanders more of an enemy than Trump.
Wasserman-Schultz wasted valuable time and money opposing Sanders, while Trump was never attacked as a fake democratic socialist. Wasserman-Schultz was taking orders from Hillary Clinton and the top Democratic leaders. She was merely protecting the neoliberal wing of the party.
That is one reason the Dems lost, especially since polls showed that Trump was wildly unpopular.
The DNC Forgets About Corporate Socialism
Finally, while the Dems are apoplectic about endorsing a democratic socialist for mayor of New York, they should mention that corporate socialism is as American as apple pie.
Corporations have readily accepted federal money since President Dwight Eisenhower identified the military-industrial complex in his famous 195X speech. This marked the beginning of a concerted effort to fund the entire defense sector with federal dollars. Federal subsidies are now common in agriculture, research, fossil fuel production, energy production, forestry, and high-tech industries.
The DNC and grass-roots Democrats should educate the public about corporate socialism and how it worked (in a pre-Trump period) to reduce costs on everything from Happy Meals to energy and autos. Being a democratic socialist only means that these federal expenditures would be directed toward individuals, not the large corporations listed in this chart. This would be uncomfortable for giant corporations and would be vigorously resisted, but this is to be expected. Corporations are people (as the Supreme Court says), and powerful people never give up power without a fight. No major social or political change has ever occurred without conflict, and in 2025 America, the same holds true.
For the DNC to talk about corporate socialism, it will also have to address its corporate, neoliberal controllers who have immense decision-making power behind the scenes. For people outside the Beltway, it looks like the reason the Dems are floundering at this dangerous time in history is that the neoliberals do not have the answers or guts to counter Trump.
To answer Trump, the Democratic leadership will have to renounce many of their neoliberal policies, including global domination and catering to the Top 1%, and focus on restructuring programs that benefit average Americans. This requires a much broader approach than simply restoring Obama’s health care subsidies, but rather reforming the for-profit health care system, imposing a serious progressive tax structure, and implementing other policy planks that are publicized at every Democratic convention and then often discarded.
Naturally, taking power and the easy money opportunities (such as serving on boards, speaking and consulting fees, book deals, etc.) away from those in the elite levels of government never happens without a fight. This means the battle will come from the bottom up, not the top down. This explains why the DNC and the Democrats struggle to clearly define who they are and what they stand for as a party. The reason is that the truth would not be palatable to the majority of average citizens who are Democrats.
*Monthly Review, Biden & the Council on Foreign Relations, by Lawrence H. Shoup, Vol. 73, No. 1, May 2021.
